Fitting 6x9 speakers..

[liam_b]

Originally Posted by Ben_Saxo

Think of it like a water pipe, current wont be able to flow through the smaller cables as easily as larger cables, just like with water in pipes. Higher quality cables with less oxygen also allow better flow and the quality is much better

the diffence would be so little there is no point he is only running the 6x9s off the headunit so it aint like hes putting alot of power through the standerd cable

Originally Posted by RS_Matt

I have white wolf cables to my 7x10s - nearly £5 a metre!!! Always read that for low wattage a small cable is better than thick.

i have never heard that i have always heard the thicker the better for power and i take its the same for speaker but for speaker cable you dont relly need anythink thicker that 16awg for any speaker i think its 16awg could be 12awg

[saxodan]

dude I cant even has bass on in the car due to crackling

anythign is betetr than what i have

[RS_Matt]

Think it was regarding bass though, thicker the better regarding high wattages to the sub. As for mid range speakers and low watt speakers just quality oxygen free would surfice. Think I read and or was told (was years ago when I was really into ICE) that thicker speaker wires would actually blight speakers taking low wattage. I run fat cables to the 7x10's as the wattage is high and the magnets vast.

I could turn my stereo to 30 on 2 subs powered by 2 x 580 watt amps bridged on normal wire before meeting distortion, but I upgraded to white wolf and I could crank it up to 34!! haven't done the test on the 7x10's yet.

the right speaker cable can really make a huge difference, possibly at high wattages though, never dealt with low wattages.

Never played about with RCA cables though, do they make an audible difference?

[liam_b]

yeah but you have to think even if your 7x10's have thick wire thay still work when theres lil wattage going thru them so i dont think its true. bigger the better for most electical stuff i think but could be wrong going to have to see what mehmeh or dave say about it

the speaker cable doesnt make that much diffrence but rca cables do thats why its best to keep it away from power cable ect

[mehmeh]

Originally Posted by liam_b

yeah but you have to think even if your 7x10's have thick wire thay still work when theres lil wattage going thru them so i dont think its true. bigger the better for most electical stuff i think but could be wrong going to have to see what mehmeh or dave say about it

the speaker cable doesnt make that much diffrence but rca cables do thats why its best to keep it away from power cable ect

I keep my reservations on cable qualities (can of worms) although like you say; RCAs are a little more plausable, due to the low voltage.

Thin speaker cable being better than thick...
Hmm that's something I've not thought about before. I can see this swinging both ways depending upon the signal and the power levels. Thick wire means less resistance so loss of power is minimal, which is why thick powercables are a must. However the thicker the cable, the more capacitance, so you could actually end up distorting the signal if it's a high frequency.
I would guess that it woudn't even be measurable until you get up well out the audio spectrum as the frequencies are too low, normal speaker cables are also made up of loads of strands anyway so that adds another thing in to the equation...

All in all I haven't the foggiest where it ends up
You would have to weigh up the loss of power (and resultantly also the distortion) vs the potential distortion, due to capacitance in the cable. It would be interesting to know where it balances out.
Personally I just stick to around 14/16awg for speakers (depending upon the power) as that seems good middle-ground. The output of an amp is high voltage, low current (compared to the power side) so speaker cables do not have to be anywhere near as thick as the power cables.

[RS_Matt]

Originally Posted by liam_b

yeah but you have to think even if your 7x10's have thick wire thay still work when theres lil wattage going thru them so i dont think its true. bigger the better for most electical stuff i think but could be wrong going to have to see what mehmeh or dave say about it

the speaker cable doesnt make that much diffrence but rca cables do thats why its best to keep it away from power cable ect

Yeah thats it, on low volumes I noticed the subs sounded a bit tinny but when I turned the volume up they hit hard.

I have the rca's on the other side of the car to the power cables, but I've never spent over £20 on rca leads.

Tweeters always seem to come with ultra thin wire too, might be a frequency thing.

[liam_b]

Originally Posted by mehmeh

I keep my reservations on cable qualities (can of worms) although like you say; RCAs are a little more plausable, due to the low voltage.

Thin speaker cable being better than thick...
Hmm that's something I've not thought about before. I can see this swinging both ways depending upon the signal and the power levels. Thick wire means less resistance so loss of power is minimal, which is why thick powercables are a must. However the thicker the cable, the more capacitance, so you could actually end up distorting the signal if it's a high frequency.
I would guess that it woudn't even be measurable until you get up well out the audio spectrum as the frequencies are too low, normal speaker cables are also made up of loads of strands anyway so that adds another thing in to the equation...

All in all I haven't the foggiest where it ends up
You would have to weigh up the loss of power (and resultantly also the distortion) vs the potential distortion, due to capacitance in the cable. It would be interesting to know where. it balances out
Personally I just stick to around 14/16awg for speakers (depending upon the power) as that seems good middle-ground. The output of an amp is high voltage, low current (compared to the power side) so speaker cables do not have to be anywhere near as thick as the power cables.

lol i might have to make a thread on TA see what thay say about it as i want to know where it balances out to i have read some where that for any power sub/speaker you dont need more than 12 awg speaker cable

Originally Posted by RS_Matt

Yeah thats it, on low volumes I noticed the subs sounded a bit tinny but when I turned the volume up they hit hard.

I have the rca's on the other side of the car to the power cables, but I've never spent over £20 on rca leads.

Tweeters always seem to come with ultra thin wire too, might be a frequency thing.

i think that could just be down to the speaker and the power its geting not the cable but im not 100% sure as i have only just started to get into car audio

yeah dont think you relly need to spend more than £20 thats what i spent triple shielded rca so should stop some distorting

true tweeters do always come with small wire but that could just be thay cant solder on bigger wire

[RS_Matt]

Originally Posted by liam_b

lol i might have to make a thread on TA see what thay say about it as i want to know where it balances out to i have read some where that for any power sub/speaker you dont need more than 12 awg speaker cable



i think that could just be down to the speaker and the power its geting not the cable but im not 100% sure as i have only just started to get into car audio

yeah dont think you relly need to spend more than £20 thats what i spent triple shielded rca so should stop some distorting

true tweeters do always come with small wire but that could just be thay cant solder on bigger wire

The subs did sound meatier with £1.50m RF cable on them at low volumes though, so its a bit of an headf*ck.

I'm sure there's guides out there that state different!

[mehmeh]

Originally Posted by liam_b

lol i might have to make a thread on TA see what thay say about it as i want to know where it balances out to i have read some where that for any power sub/speaker you dont need more than 12 awg speaker cable

Nooooo... can of worms, can of worms, can of worms

The thing is though; if your amp outputs are hitting 80V in to a 4ohm load (ignoring impedance rise etc) then only 20A would flow. 12awg can support 20A over a 14feet distance with only a 0.5V p.d. so yeh you're right, you would have to be running some serious power to warrant anything larger.
EDIT: 80V equates to around 1000W, in to a 4ohm load.